Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season

Some of my family over in Florida occasionally ask "so why do you get the big storms in Mississippi, and why don't we get them quite so much here?"  Well, I'll tell you:

See that hot stripe that starts at the western tip of Cuba and ends, oh, I don't know, about a mile from my front door?  See that nice buffer of relatively cooler water sitting like a protective bubble all around Cape San Blas?  Well, that's pretty much the whole answer.
Season starts Wednesday.  Meh, the insurance is paid and the plans are laid.  Gonna go put on some Buffett and get ready for a bike ride along the beach.